Pipetting apparatus are conventionally employed in biochemical, pharmaceutical and clinical testing facilities so as to transfer small volumes of reagents and samples for various types of testing and assay procedures. Pipette tips are typically furnished in a rectilinear arrayed rack. Individual tips may therefore be picked up and removed from the rack to be used by the laboratory clinician as may be needed. It is sometimes necessary for multiple pipette tips to be picked up simultaneously from the rack and transferred to a different location for use.
The embodiments described herein therefore may usefully be employed to allow clinicians to manually pick up a linear array of multiple pipette tips for transport to a different location whereby the tips may then be released into a different rack for further use and/or analysis.
In general, therefore, the embodiments disclosed herein relate to pipette tip transfer devices having the ability to pick up pipette tips from one location and transfer the pipette tips to another location where the tips can then be released. In preferred embodiments, the pipette transfer device will include a frame, a strip plate positioned at a lower end of the frame having a linear array of apertures, an actuator bracket positioned within and mounted to the frame for reciprocal movements between lowered and raised positions, a linear array of pick-up pins dependently extending from the actuator bracket such that respective pins are moveably received with respective apertures of the strip plate; and an actuator lock mounted to the frame for manual manipulations between a locked and released positions. When in the locked position, the actuator lock is engaged with the actuator bracket to lock the actuator bracket in the lowered position, while in the released position thereof, the actuator lock is disengaged with the actuator bracket to allow the actuator bracket to move between the lowered and raised positions. Movement of the actuator bracket from the lowered position to the raised position therefore allows upper ends of pipette tips frictionally captured by the terminal ends of the pick-up pins to engage the strip bar and thereby be released from the pins.
The frame may have a generally inverted U-shaped configuration having a top handle member and an opposed pair of parallel side members dependently extending from the top handle member. According to some embodiments, the strip plate may be rigidly connected between the opposed pair of parallel side members of the frame.
The actuator bracket will preferably define an opening sufficient to allow fingers of a user to be inserted therein. For example, according to certain embodiments, the actuator bracket may include upper and lower bracket bars and opposed side bars that are interconnected to one another to define the opening.
Mounting pins may be provided to attach the actuator bracket to the frame to allow for reciprocal rectilinear movements between the lowered and raised positions thereof. At least one compression spring may be associated with the mounting pins to apply a spring force against the actuator bracket in a direction moving the actuator bracket into the lowered position thereof.
The actuator lock may be connected to one of the mounting pins to allow for pivotal and/or lateral movement between the locked and released positions thereof. According to certain embodiments, the actuator lock may comprise a base plate pivotally attached to the mounting pin, a spacer plate dependently extending from the base plate, and an inwardly turned stop member, the stop member being engaged with the actuator bracket when the actuator lock is in the locked position thereof, and being disengaged from the actuator bracket when the actuator lock is in the released position thereof.
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments thereof.